The House Judiciary Committee’s top Democrat is calling for an immediate investigation of U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros over revelations in the tainted “Broadview Six” case, accusing Chicago’s top federal prosecutor of “incalculable damage to public confidence in his office.”
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Maryland, demanded the probe in a letter sent Tuesday to the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility and Illinois’ Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission.
It details the alleged misconduct by a member of Boutros’ staff during grand jury proceedings that led to the indictment against six Operation Midway Blitz protesters.
“By tampering with the grand jury, Mr. Boutros and his team corrupted and contaminated the deliberative process, hollowed out the protection that the Constitution guarantees and violated the would-be defendants’ right to due process,” Raskin, ranking member of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Judiciary Committee, wrote in the letter exclusively obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times.
Raskin cited potential violations of professional rules requiring “candor to the courts” and said “investigations into those violations are critical first steps to begin rebuilding the public confidence that Mr. Boutros has smashed up and destroyed.”
The letter amounts to the highest-profile call yet for accountability following the collapse of the “Broadview Six” case late last month. A chorus of local Democratic elected officials has called for Boutros’ resignation, including U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth. But Raskin’s letter shows the scandal has now registered with high-ranking Democrats from outside Illinois.
A Boutros spokesman did not immediately comment. Boutros has previously touted an increase in indictments and said he’s charging cases that represent “serious and substantial federal interests.” He argued that he’s “unleashed energy and talent that once was suppressed, stifled, and stymied.”
“Our best days are ahead of us,” Boutros said June 8. “I’m going to keep fighting for the Northern District of Illinois for years to come.”
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has said he “fully supports U.S. Attorney Boutros.” Blanche faces a confirmation battle after President Donald Trump nominated him to serve permanently as the nation’s top law enforcement official.
The Office of Professional Responsibility did not respond to a message from the Sun-Times, and an Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission spokesperson declined to comment. The agencies investigate alleged misconduct by Justice Department attorneys and lawyers licensed in the state of Illinois, respectively.
Raskin also raised questions last month about Associate Deputy Attorney General Aakash Singh, a controversial Justice Department official involved in Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago. Defense attorneys recently sought records that might show whether Singh played a role in the “Broadview Six” case, specifically.
The “Broadview Six” case revolved around a September protest outside a suburban immigration facility, where a crowd pushed and allegedly damaged a federal agent’s SUV. From that crowd, prosecutors charged only six people, largely involved in local Democratic politics, raising questions about selective prosecution and freedom of expression.
Charged were former congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh, Oak Park village trustee Brian Straw, former Cook County Board candidate Catherine “Cat” Sharp, 45th Ward Democratic committeeperson Michael Rabbitt, musician Joselyn Walsh and onetime Abughazaleh campaign worker Andre Martin.
Boutros permanently dropped the case May 21 after U.S. District Judge April Perry revealed apparent prosecutorial misconduct before the grand jury that she said left her “incredibly shocked.” Boutros told the judge he didn’t know about the misconduct until late April.
Transcripts of the grand jury proceedings released last week show that Assistant U.S. Attorney Sheri Mecklenburg improperly put her credibility on the line to support criminal charges, spoke with grand jurors outside the grand jury room, and excused a grand juror who called the case a “crock of sh--.”
Raskin’s letter did not name Mecklenburg but accused “Boutros and his prosecutors” of a “slew of dirty tactics.” It noted that “only judges — not prosecutors — have the legal authority” to dismiss grand jurors.
And, Raskin wrote, “even more egregious is the cover-up that followed.” Perry has said the alleged misconduct by Boutros’ team was redacted out of transcripts that were initially given to her by Boutros’ office.
“Mr. Boutros’ outrageous conduct warrants a complete and thorough investigation,” Raskin wrote.
In fact, Raskin said the conduct of all Justice Department personnel “responsible for the Broadview Six grand jury proceedings and the redaction of the resulting transcripts” should be under scrutiny.
Raskin has served as ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee since December 2004. He had previously served on the committee for six years.
The Maryland Democrat has been a frequent Trump critic and served as the lead House impeachment manager in Trump’s second impeachment trial, as well as on the bipartisan Select Committee to Investigate January 6.
Raskin drew Trump’s ire last week after conservative commentator Mark Levin suggested that the House should trigger his expulsion from Congress and claimed Raskin is “already leading a plot to impeach” Trump if Democrats win back the House.
Trump in turn called Raskin “a Loser in Life,” and said he believed Raskin would try once again to impeach him “despite one of the most successful Presidencies in History.”
“I agree with Mark Levin when he says to, EXPEL THE BUM,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Congress can never be great with people like this, who suffer massively from Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS), casting their vote of HATE!”
Former President Joe Biden preemptively pardoned members of the January 6 committee after Trump suggested that they “should go to jail.”
Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, joins a list of elected officials who have slammed U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros over his handling of the now-tainted case. In a letter exclusively obtained by the Sun-Times, Raskin said investigations “are critical first steps to begin rebuilding the public confidence that Mr. Boutros has smashed up and destroyed.”
Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, joins a list of elected officials who have slammed U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros over his handling of the now-tainted case. In a letter exclusively obtained by the Sun-Times, Raskin said investigations “are critical first steps to begin rebuilding the public confidence that Mr. Boutros has smashed up and destroyed.”
